The Lost Listener
by Anime1Manga2Lover3
Summary: 9/OC - The Doctor discovers that he is not alone. He finds a Time Lady who has been hidden for over 50 years. But there is something strange about her...
1. Dalek: What Is It?

A/N: I'm back after, like, a month and a half! I've decided to leave the realm of anime and try my hand at some sci-fi. This will become a Doctor/OC story, but I'm going to work up to that slowly. I'm going to do two-three chapters per episode, and try to update more often than I have in the past. I haven't introduced my OC yet, but she will be appearing in the next chapter!

Disclaimer numero uno: I do not own Doctor Who. I don't know who does, but it's not me.

Disclaimer numero dos: I got this idea from LizzeXX's story _A Treasured Discovery_, and this is starting out very similar to hers, but it will turn out very different! It's just that there's not a whole lot of episodes that would be good for introducing an OC.

The _whoosh_ing of the TARDIS engine broke the silence in the vast, darkened room. The door opened, and the Doctor stepped out, gazing around the room as he did so.

"So, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked, following him out.

"I don't know," he answered, walking slowly away from the police box, "Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course."

"Where are we?" Rose's eyes narrowed as she peered through the gloom.

"Earth, Utah, North America, about half a mile underground."

"And when are we?"

"2012."

"God, that's so close. I should be 26." She looked over at the Doctor, slightly startled by this realization. He _click_ed a light switch, illuminating a room filled with artifacts inside of glass boxes. "Blimey," Rose breathed, "Like a great big museum." Box after box stretched before them.

"An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby." The two of them began to walk slowly down an aisle. "They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the mileometer from the Roswell Spaceship."

"That's a bit of Slitheen!" A three-fingered, green arm stood on its end. "That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed." Rose leaned in to examine this novelty.

"Oh, look at you." The Doctor walked towards a metal head, clearly once part of a robot.

"What is it?" Rose walked up behind him, also staring at the face.

"An old friend of mine… well, enemy," he said darkly. "The stuff of nightmares, reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Rose questioned.

"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive." He still hadn't shifted his gaze. "Something's reaching out, calling for help." He lightly put two fingers on the glass.

Alarms blared, set off by his touch. Rose whipped her head back and forth in alarm. Soldiers came marching through the doors in full armour, kneeling in formation and cocking their weapons. The Doctor and Rose were surrounded.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you exhibit 'A'," Rose said apprehensively.

The Doctor grimaced at the threatening soldiers.

"Attention, all personnel… Bad Wolf One descending, Bad Wolf One descending." A helicopter made it's way to a landing pad.

Four armed men stood at attention in a starkly lit hallway.

"On behalf of all of us," a nervous young man offered, "I want to wish you a very happy birthday, sir." The 'sir' in question was a well-dressed, balding man with an insufferable air of self-importance, followed by several official looking people. "And the president called to convey his personal best wishes."

"The president is ten points down. I want him replaced," he said without breaking stride.

"I don't think that's very wise, sir," the man said, rather unwisely.

"Thank you so much for your opinion. You're fired," he said harshly. "Get rid of him."

"What?" Two armed men grabbed the offender and dragged him away.

"Wipe his memory," he said, as his entourage pressed themselves against the wall to allow the poor man and his escorts through. "Put him on the road someplace… Memphis, Minneapolis… somewhere beginning with 'M'." His followers, which had dropped somewhat behind him, hurried to catch up. "So the next president," he continued to the woman who hurried to replace the ex-employee, "What do you think? Republican or Democrat?"

"Democrat, sir," she answered firmly.

"For what reason?" he pressed.

"They're just so funny, sir?" she tried, choosing her words carefully, lest she be left somewhere starting with 'M'.

He halted. "What is your name?"

"Goddard, sir… Diana Goddard."

He gave her a once-over. "I like you, Diana Goddard. So where's the English kid?" He resumed walking.

"Sir, sir." Said English kid hurried up to his side. "I bought ten more artifacts at auction, Mr. Van Statten."

"Bring them on. Let me see them," Van Statten ordered.

"Uh, sir, with respect, there's something more urgent," Goddard said cryptically. "We arrested to intruders 53 floors down. We don't know how they got in."

"I'll tell you how they got in… intruder window." He said 'intruder' so it sounded rather like 'in through the.' When no one laughed, he continued, "'Intruder window'… that was funny." His entourage laughed nervously. "Bring them in. Let's see them. And tell Simmons I want to visit my little pet. Get to it!" He snapped his fingers with authority.

"Simmons, you'd better give me good news." Goddard drew to the side and spoke urgently into her earpiece. "Is it talking?"

The screams being broadcasted to her slowly faded away. "Not exactly 'talking', no," Simmons answered.

"Then what's it doing?"

"Screaming. Is that any good?" Simmons panted. The screams began again.

In Van Statten's office, the 'English kid' was showing off his purchases. "And this is the last. I paid $800,000 for it." He picked up a metal objects with tubes going through it.

"What does it do?" Van Statten looked at it with mild interest.

"Well, you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something… I think maybe fuel," he answered as Van Statten turned it over in his hands.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that," the Doctor said seriously, having just been led into the office with Rose.

"Shut it," snapped Goddard, who had also joined them.

"Really though, that's wrong," he continued.

"Is it dangerous?" Asked the purchaser.

"No, it just looks silly," the Doctor answered matter-of-factly. He stepped forward to take it, but froze at the sound of cocking guns behind him. However, Van Statten held up a warning finger and handed the object to the Doctor. "You just need to be…" He ran his fingers lightly over the grooves on the surface, causing a note to play. "Delicate." He looked up with a grin. He continued to make slow music, looking from side to side with the smile still in place.

"It's a musical instrument," Van Statten said, leaning forward in his chair.

"And it's a long way from home," the Doctor said, nodding.

"Here, let me." Van Statten reached for the object.

"I did say 'delicate'," the Doctor said, raising his eyebrows when the instrument was snatched from his hands. "It reacts to the smallest fingerprint… needs precision." He looked on as Van Statten experimentally ran his fingers over the grooves, imitating the Doctor. "Very good. Quite the expert."

"As are you," Van Statten said slyly. The object clattered as he threw it into the corner. "Who exactly are you?"

The Doctor's eyes followed the instrument's path before snapping back to his interrogator. "I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" His voice was no longer quite so friendly.

"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extraterrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake." His tone of voice made it quite clear that he didn't believe that story.

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah," the Doctor said with a hint of nervous laughter in his voice.

"The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down…" He walked out from behind his desk. "With your little cat-burglar accomplice. Quite a collector yourself… she's rather pretty." He stopped directly in front of the Doctor.

"She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her 'she'," Rose said disdainfully.

"She's English, too. Hey, little lord Fauntleroy, got you a girlfriend," he called over to the 'English kid.'

"This is Mr. Henry Van Statten," he hurried to introduce his boss.

"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose looked at him.

"Mr. Van Statten owns the internet."

"Don't be stupid… no one owns the Internet," Rose said, shaking her head slightly.

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right, kids?" Van Statten smiled.

"So you're just about an expert in everything," the Doctor said, "Except the things in your museums. Anything you don't understand, you lock up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten countered.

"I don't need to make claims. I know how good I am," the Doctor said simply.

"And yet I captured you, right next to the cage. What were you doing down there?"

"You tell me."

"The cage contains one of my two only living specimens."

"And what's that?"

"Like you don't know," he sneered.

"Show me."

"You want to see it?"

"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone," Rose said nervously.

"Goddard, inform the cage. We're heading down." Goddard nodded. "You, English, look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do." The two he had just mentioned exchanged a glance. "And you, Doctor with no name… come and see my pets." He began to walk towards the lift.

"We've tried everything," Van Statten informed the Doctor as they exited the lift. "The creature has sealed itself, but there's definite signs of life inside." He entered a code into a keypad by a large metal door, which slowly began to open outwards.

"Inside? Inside what?" The Doctor asked, frowning.

"Welcome back, Sir. I've had to take the power down." Simmons interrupted before Van Statten could answer. "The Metaltron is resting."

"'Metaltron'?" Questioned the Doctor.

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it?" Van Statten said, smirking slightly. "Although I'd much prefer to find out its real name."

"Here, you'd better put these on." Simmons held out thick gloves. "The last guy that touched it… burst into flames." He had a curious smile on his face at the memory.

"I won't touch it, then."

"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me," challenged Van Statten. As the Doctor entered the Cage, Van Statten quietly ordered, "Don't open that door until we get a result."

The door shut behind the Doctor, plunging him into near darkness. He heard it lock him in. "Look, I'm sorry about this," he spoke to a glowing blue circle in the black. "Mr. Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor."

"Doc-tor." A grating, metallic voice came from the blue light's general direction.

"Impossible," the Doctor stared in disbelief at the place where two white lights had flashed with each syllable.

"'The' Doctor? Exterminate!" The lights turned on to reveal the Doctor's greatest and deadliest enemy: a Dalek. It was chained in place. "Exterminate!"

"Let me out!" The Doctor pounded frantically on the door.

"Exterminate!"

Outside the Cage, Goddard cried, "Sir, it's going to kill him!"

"It's talking!" Van Statten ignored her warning, eyes transfixed to the screen displaying the unfolding drama.

"You are an enemy of the Daleks!" The eyestalk centered on the panicking Doctor. "You must be destroyed!" The Doctor stopped banging on the door and slowly moved away from the Dalek. "You must be destroyed!"

As the eggbeater-looking weapon on the Dalek moved back and forth but failed to work, the Doctor grinned and scoffed. "It's not working," he said gleefully. He laughed as the Dalek looked at it's malfunctioning extension. "Fantastic!" He spat. "Oh, fantastic! Powerless. Look at you. The Great Space Dustbin. How does it feel?" He lunged toward the Dalek.

"Keep back." The Dalek moved as far away from him as it could within its chains.

"What for?" The Doctor ran up to it and stared challengingly at its eye. "What are you gonna do to me? If you can't kill," He began to circle it. "Then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you?" He shot the questions at it as though they were weapons. "You're nothing! What the hell are you here for?" He suddenly stopped moving.

"I am waiting for orders."

"What does that mean?"

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders."

"Well you're never gonna get any… not ever."

"I demand orders!"

"They're never gonna come. Your race is dead!" The Doctor's voice was rising again. "You all burnt, all of you… ten million ships on fire… the entire Dalek race, wiped out in one second."

"You lie!"

"I watched it happen. I _made_ it happen!"

"You destroyed us?"

All of the energy seemed to be sucked out of the Doctor. He turned and walked slowly away. "I had no choice."

"And what of the Time Lords?"

"Dead." The Doctor's voice was very quiet now. "They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

"And the coward survived."

"Oh, and I caught your little signal." The Doctor's voice had changed into a light, singsong one. "'Help me'… poor little thing." His face darkened. "But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left."

"I am alone in the universe?" The Dalek's eyestalk slowly lowered.

"Yep," the Doctor smiled.

"So are you. We are the same." At the Dalek's words, the smile slipped off the Doctor's face.

"We're not the same!" The Doctor whipped around and strode towards the Dalek. "I'm not… No, wait," he stopped. "Maybe we are. You're right, yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. 'Exterminate.'" He grinned, slightly crazily.

He turned around quickly and pulled a lever, making electricity crackle over the Dalek. It screamed and screamed in agony. "Have pity!"

"Why should I? You never did." He turned and pressed another button, presumably amping the voltage.

"Get him out," ordered Van Statten.

"Help me!" Screamed the Dalek.

"I saved your life, now talk to me!" Van Statten strode into the room with several other people. "God damn it, talk to me!"

"You've got to destroy it!" The Doctor yelled as he was dragged from the Cage.

"The last in the universe…" continued Van Statten. "And now I know your name… Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek." No response. "I am Henry Van Statten. Now recognize me!" Still nothing. "Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes." Simmons moved towards the Dalek, the same sadistic smile on his face.

"Sorry about the mess," Adam, the 'English kid', apologized to Rose as he showed her his workshop. He closed the door, leaving just the two of them inside. "Mr. Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods." Rose walked around the room, peering at the mysterious odds and ends strewn everywhere. "What do you think that is?" He asked, holding out a rough, triangular piece of metal.

"Uh, a lump of metal?" Rose suggested after examining it.

"Yeah, yeah, but I think… well, I'm almost certain… it's from the hull of a spacecraft," he said dramatically. "The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet… spacecraft, aliens, visitors to earth…" Rose looked mildly amused at his air of revealing the truth. "They really exist."

"That's amazing," Rose said, rather patronizingly.

"I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life."

"I'm gob-smacked, yeah. And you do what… sit here and catalogue it?"

"Best job in the world." Adam smiled in a self-satisfied sort of way.

"Imagine if you could get out there, travel amongst the stars and see it for real," Rose hinted.

"Yeah? I'd give anything. I don't think it's ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes."

"Oh, you never know," Rose looked away and began to fiddle with stuff on the counters. "What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?"

"I think they're nutters," Adams nodded.

"Yeah, me too," Rose said, turning her attention back to him. The two of them laughed. "So, how'd you end up here?"

"Van Statten has agents all over the world," Adam explained, "looking for geniuses to recruit."

"Oh, right, you're a genius."

"Sorry, but yeah I can't help it. I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged on to the U.S. defense system," he remembered. "Nearly caused World War Three."

"What… and that's funny, is it?" Rose shook her head slightly.

"Well, you should've been there just to see them running about… fantastic!"

"You sound like the Doctor," Rose said, looking away.

"A-are you and him…" Adam began awkwardly.

"No, we're just friends," Rose said quickly.

"Good." Adam nodded.

"Why is it good?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Just is."

"So… wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff," she gestured towards the piles of stuff. "But Mr. Van Statten's got two living creatures down there!"

"Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius," he said, struck by a sudden thought, "It doesn't take long to patch you onto the com system."

Rose chuckled. "Let's have a look, then."

"It doesn't do much, the alien – at least the one I've seen so far. The other one has much tighter security. I guess they've managed to crack that one open," he said as he typed on the computer. "This one's weird, kind of useless. It's just like a great big pepper pot." On the screen, Simmons was electrocuting the Dalek. Rose's eyes widened at the sound of its screams.

"It's being tortured. Where's the Doctor?"

"I don't know."

"Take me down there, now." Rose left the room, and Adam reluctantly followed.

The Doctor entered the lift, accompanied by two armed guards, Goddard, and Van Statten. "The metal's just battle armour. The real Dalek creature's inside," he explained.

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked.

"A nightmare… it's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered… every single emotion removed, except hate."

"Genetically engineered," Van Statten repeated slowly. "By whom?"

"By a genius, Van Statten, by a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him."

"It's been on earth for over 50 years…" Goddard cut in. "Sold at private auction with the other alien, moving from one collection to another as a pair. Why would it be a threat now?" She asked.

"Because I'm here. How did they get to Earth? Does anyone know?" The Doctor asked urgently.

"The records say they came to earth like a meteorite," Goddard answered. "They fell to earth on the Ascension islands. The Dalek burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it, while the other one was found nearby, somewhat less burnt. For three days, the Dalek was screaming. It must have gone insane."

"And the other one?"

"Unconscious."

"Must have fallen through time, the only survivors," the Doctor muttered to himself. Perhaps the other Dalek had been too badly damaged to communicate with anyone, and had thus been deemed useless by Van Statten. At least that one wasn't out for his blood, too.

"You talked about a war?" Goddard prompted.

"The Time War… the final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived, too," mused Van Statten.

"Not by choice."

"This means those two aren't the only aliens on Earth, Doctor…" Van Statten continued. "There's you… the only one of your kind in existence."

Bright lights lit up the examination room. The Doctor's arms were chained, leaving him in a spread-eagle position, relieved of his jacket and shirt. "Now, smile," grinned Van Statten. A strip of red light pulsed over the Doctor's bare chest, making him twist and groan in pain. "Two hearts…" observed Van Statten. "Binary vascular system." He switched off the scanner and frowned. "And here I was thinking you had something new to offer."


	2. Dalek: The Other Time Lord

It was like all the air had been sucked from the Doctor's lungs. "What do you mean?" he gasped.

"You're the same as my other alien," Van Statten replied disgustedly. "Nothing new to patent there."

_There was another Time Lord alive and here? How had he not sensed it? Stupid, stupid, stupid. That's why they didn't say 'the other Dalek,' but instead said 'the other alien.' _"So that's your secret… you don't just collect stuff, you scavenge it," the Doctor said, trying not to show his inner feelings as he probed Van Statten for possibly revealing information.

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries," Van Statten justified himself. "All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk…" he reminisced. "You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year, my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater. And do you know what we found?" He gave the answer without waiting for a response, "The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory, of course… no need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?"

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" Spat the Doctor. "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you," he said, trying to insult Van Statten.

"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue," Van Statten responded, unfazed.

"Listen to me!" Said the Doctor desperately as Van Statten made his way back to the scanner. "That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" Starting with the other Time Lord, then moving onto himself, and finally as many humans as possible.

"Nothing can escape the Cage." Van Statten started the scan again.

The red beam pulsed over the Doctor again, but this time, when he writhed in his chains, it was not only from the pain, but also to escape and find the other Time Lord before the Dalek killed him. "But it's woken up! It knows we're here!" Van Statten was completely unresponsive. "It's gonna get out! Van Statten, I swear no one on this base is safe…" He made another attempt to get through to him as long as the scanner was off. "No one on this planet!" Van Statten turned the scanner back on, and the Doctor yelled.

"Hold it right there."

"Level three access." Adam flashed his ID at the guard as he and Rose approached the Cage. "Special clearance from Mr. Van Statten. Don't get too close," he warned Rose as she walked through the door.

"Hello," Rose said to the Dalek's eyestalk. "Are you in pain?" she asked kindly. "My name's Rose Tyler," she continued when there was no response. "I've got a friend. He can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?"

"Yes," said the Dalek.

"What?" Rose asked, confused.

The Dalek raised its eyestalk. "I… am in pain. They torture me. But still, they fear me. Do you fear me?"

"No." Rose shook her head.

"I am dying," the Dalek said slowly, lowering its eyestalk.

"No, we can help," Rose said quickly.

"I welcome death. But… I am glad that… before I die… I've met a human… who was not afraid."

"Isn't there anything I can do?"

"My race is dead. I shall die alone."

Rose reached out a hand and placed it on the Dalek, her heart full of compassion for this dying, lonely creature.

"Rose, no!" Yelled Adam, but it was too late.

Rose gasped and pulled back her hand as it was burnt. An orange handprint was left on the Dalek. "Genetic material extrapolated," it said, its voice suddenly much stronger. "Initiate cellular reconstruction!" Rose and Adam backed away from it as it burst from its chains.

"What the hell have you done?" Simmons entered the Cage, carrying his torture stick. "What you gonna do… sucker me to death?" He sneered at the Dalek's plunger-like appendage. "Aah!" He gasped as it grabbed onto his face and proceeded to do just that.

"It's killing him! Do something!" Rose yelled as she and Adams ran from the Cage.

"Condition red. Condition red," a soldier relayed to Van Statten. "I repeat… this is not a drill."

Van Statten looked up from his scanner as code red was initiated.

"Release me if you want to live," the Doctor said darkly.

The Doctor ran out of the elevator, now fully clothed, followed by Van Statten and his little group. "You've got to keep it in that cell. But I need the other alien up here." Van Statten opened his mouth to object, but the Doctor scowled at him and continued, "Another Time Lord – that's what we are, by the way – would make the process of surviving much easier." Van Statten closed his mouth and instead turned to his guards, who immediately re-entered the elevator.

"Doctor, it's all my fault," Rose spoke from a television screen.

"I've sealed the compartment," Adam added from behind her. "It can't get out. That lock's got a billion combinations."

"A Dalek's a genius… it can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat."

Inside the cage, the Dalek reached out its sucker and covered the keypad, making numbers flash across the screen. It found the right combination, and the door swung open.

"Open fire!" A guard yelled, his gun pointed at the Dalek.

"Don't shoot it. I want it unharmed!" Ordered Van Statten over the com.

"Rose, get out of there!" The Doctor spoke now.

As bullets proved to have no effect on the Dalek, the guard told his companion, "De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job… got that?"

"You, with me," De Maggio told Rose and Adam. Her superior continued to fire at the Dalek, on the off chance that something might work.

The Doctor's eyes widened as the Dalek moved towards the camera, reached out its sucker, and destroyed it.

"Abandoning the Cage, sir," the soldier said into his earpiece.

With the screen blank, the Doctor turned his attention elsewhere. More specifically, he focused on the door that was opening to reveal one of the guards dispatched by Van Statten and a woman being supported by him.

A Time _Lady? _"Oh, no," the Doctor breathed, moving towards them. When he reached them, he put a finger under her chin and lifted her head up. Lifeless brown eyes stared into his, with dark shadows beneath them from many sleepless nights. Her face was pale, her lips cracked, her light brown hair limp and uncombed. "What have they done to you? Come on," he said quietly, helping her to a chair. "My name's the Doctor. What's yours?"

"…" No noise came out.

"Can someone please get her a glass of water?" He said, looking around at the people watching. Someone went off to fetch one. When he looked back down at her, her hands were covering her ears as she stared at the floor. Before he could ask why, however, Goddard delivered disturbing news.

"We're losing power," she said, sitting in front of a computer. "It's draining the base. Oh my god." She looked at the Doctor. "It's draining the entire power supplies for the whole of Utah."

"It's downloading," said the Doctor, casting a worried glance over at the Time Lady. It was a small comfort to see that she had received the glass of water and was now sipping it, though her eyes were still unfocused and her hands shaking from the effort of holding the cup.

"Downloading what?" Asked Van Statten.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down."

"It's not just energy," explained the Doctor. "That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything."

"The Daleks survive in me!" They heard over the still functioning intercom, followed by laser-sounding zaps.

"We've only got emergency power," the Doctor told Van Statten. "Its eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now."

"All guards to converge on the Metaltron Cage immediately," Goddard ordered.

"Civilians! Let them through!" Rose and Adam followed the guard past a group of soldiers preparing to attack the Dalek. The soldiers cocked their weapons and prepared to ambush the Dalek at the corner.

"Cover the north wall!" Shouted a guard as he ran towards the soldiers. "Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter!" The Dalek began to come around the corner. "Blue division – Aah!" The Dalek attacked him, killing him almost instantly. Machine guns fired in retaliation, yet the bullets disappeared before they could touch the Dalek. Meanwhile, the Dalek was attacking the soldiers one by one.

"Tell them to stop shooting at it," Van Statten ordered Goddard.

"But it's killing them!" She protested.

"They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique! I don't want a scratch on its body work!" He told the soldiers. "Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!" Nobody responded. The gunfire stopped. He realized that it had stopped because they had been defeated.

A moment of silence followed, before Goddard brought them back to the business of staying alive. "That's us, right below the surface," she explained, bringing up a three-dimensional map of the complex. "That's the Cage, and that's the Dalek."

"This museum of yours, have you got any alien weapons?"

"Lots of them," nodded Goddard. "But the trouble is, the Dalek's between them and us."

"We've got to keep that thing alive." Van Statten's priorities were clear. "We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there."

"Leaving everyone trapped with it?" The Doctor scowled. "Rose is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that? It's got to go through this area," he continued, looking back at the map. "What's that?"

"Weapons testing," answered Goddard.

"Gives guns to the technicians, the lawyers… anyone, everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it." Leaving Goddard to follow his instructions, the Doctor returned to the Time Lady. "Are you feeling better?" He asked her.

She nodded slightly.

"Can you tell me your name?" He pressed.

"The… the Listener," she whispered, her voice rough, probably from the amount of screaming she had done.

"Well then, Listener, I promise you'll be all better soon, but first we have to take care of the Dalek that came with you, all right?" The Doctor tried to reassure her, wondering if she would believe anyone after what she'd been through.

She nodded again and made a weak attempt at a smile, although the corners of her lips barely tilted up.

"Stairs… that's more like it." Rose looked up at the many flights of concrete stairs above her. "It hasn't got legs. It's stuck." Adam caught up to her.

"It's coming! Get out!" Yelled De Maggio, and the three began to run up the stairs, stopping one flight up to look back at the oncoming Dalek.

"Great, big alien death machine," scoffed Adam. "Defeated by a flight of stairs."

"Now, listen to me," De Maggio told the Dalek. "I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate, then I can guarantee that Mr. Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you, and maybe that was wrong. But people have died, and that stops right now. The killing stops, have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?"

The Dalek's response to this impressive speech was one, chilling word. "Elevate." It rose of the ground and started to hover above the stairs as it came closer to the humans.

"Oh, my god," whispered Rose.

"Adam, get her out of here," ordered De Maggio.

"Come with us. You can't stop it," Rose told De Maggio desperately.

"Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back… just run!" Adam and Rose began to run up the stairs, leaving De Maggio shooting Dalek with no success.

As the two of them ran down a brick hallway, Rose glanced over her shoulder when she heard De Maggio scream.

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something. Speaking of which," Van Statten continued. "It doesn't seem like you really need _her_." He jerked his chin towards the Listener.

"What's the nearest town?" The Doctor asked, ignoring this last little jibe.

"Salt Lake City. But really, she's just sitting there, giving no help at all—"

"Population?"

"One million. And she's not making it any easier for us to save those people—"

"All dead. And maybe if you have made _her_ half-dead, she'd be more useful, eh?"

Van Statten got the point.

"If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."

"But why would it do that?!" Van Statten yelled.

"Because it honestly believes they should die," the Doctor said simply. "Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing, and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!"

The computer began to display a swarm of soldiers getting ready to surprise the Dalek.

"The Dalek's surrounded by a force field," the Doctor informed them over the com. "The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through."

The soldiers cocked their guns, ready for the Dalek.

"Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece," the Doctor instructed the soldiers. "That's the weak spot."

"Thank you, Doctor," the commander said into his earpiece. "But I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!" He ordered his troops. The soldiers readied their weapons. "Hold your fire!" He instructed as Adam and Rose came running around the corner, panting. "You two, get the hell out of there!" They ran behind the soldiers, towards the door, but paused to watch the Dalek come into view.

"Rose," rasped the Listener. The Doctor glanced over at her, momentarily distracted, but she was shaking her head as though it would help clear it. He turned his attention back to the screen.

"On my mark." The Dalek raised its eyestalk to look at the commander. "Open fire!" he ordered.

The Doctor stared at the screen that showed the Dalek standing in the middle of the room, completely unaffected by the hail of bullets directed at it.

"Zoom in on the Dalek," the Listener half-whispered her first full sentence since she had been brought out of captivity. Goddard obliged, and they saw it elevating once again and shoot at the fire alarm, making the sprinklers go off. As water puddle on the floor, the Dalek shot a bolt of electricity into it, electrocuting those unfortunate soldiers standing in it. Only the soldiers on the catwalk survived.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Ordered the commander. The Dalek shot another burst of electricity on the metal where they were standing, killing them, too.

Stunned silence filled the room as everyone took in this brutal massacre.

Van Statten broke the quiet. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning the place."

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out."

Van Statten's face fell at Goddard's cold words.

"You said we could seal the vault," the Doctor said.

"It was designed to be a bunker," Van Statten explained, sitting at the computer. "In the event of nuclear war, steel bulkheads close off the area."

"There's not enough power… those bulkheads are massive," Goddard cut in.

"We've got emergency power. We can reroute that to the bulkhead doors," the Doctor suggested.

"We'd have to bypass the security codes," Goddard protested. "That would take a computer genius."

"Good thing you've got me, then," Van Statten said, oh-so-modestly.

"You want to help?" The Doctor asked, surprised.

"He doesn't want to die," the Listener scoffed weakly.

"Yep. Simple as that," Van Statten affirmed. "And nobody knows this software better than me." The screen blinked to life again, showing the Dalek staring at the camera.

"Sir," Goddard said, looking up from the computer and seeing the Dalek.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor."

"You're going to get rusty," the Doctor said, as the sprinklers were still on above the Dalek.

"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler," explained the Dalek. "Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me."

"What's your next trick?" The Doctor asked.

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

"Yeah, I saw. Downloading the internet… what did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes."

"And?" The Doctor asked, sounding rather sad, knowing the answer.

"Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?" It sounded rather desperate.

"You're just a soldier without commands."

"Then I shall follow the primary order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer!"

"What for? What's the point?" demanded the Doctor. The Dalek didn't answer. "Don't you see? It's all gone… everything you were, everything you stood for."

"Then what should I do?"

"All right, then. If you want orders, follow this one." The Dalek waited. "Kill yourself."

"The Daleks must survive!" The Dalek objected instantly.

"The Daleks have failed. Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct, rid the universe of your filth… why don't you just die?!" He hurled the last word like a weapon at the Dalek.

"You would make a good Dalek." The Dalek said after a pause, right before the screen went blank.

The Doctor froze, staring at the screen in shock.

"It's wrong."

That one word from the Listener made him feel better. She, at least, knew what the Daleks were to him, knew how wrong, how terrible that accusation was.

"Seal the vaults," he told Van Statten.

"I can leech power off the ground defenses," Van Statten said as green text scrolled down his computer screen, the Doctor working on a computer on the other side. "Feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I've had to work this fast."

"You're enjoying this, you sick…" the Listener rasped, glaring at Van Statten from her chair. Although still very weak, she was apparently regaining at least some of her willpower.

"Doctor, she's still down there." Goddard leaned down by the Doctor. He sonic-ed the com to connect to Rose's mobile.

"This isn't the best time," she panted.

"Where are you?"

"Level 49."

"You've got to keep moving," the Doctor said, continuing to type. "The Vault's being sealed off, up at level 46." His eyes tracked the progress on the map of Rose and Adam.

"Can't you stop them closing?"

"I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait, and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, _run_."

* * *

A/N: I introduced the Listener this chapter, although she didn't do a whole lot. She did do a fair bit of talking for someone in that state, but she's a talkative person when she's not half-dead, so I thought that would recover rather quicker than her physical well-being. I did give a hint or two about what makes her "unusual," but nothing major.

I do appreciate reviews, by the way :) Thanks to The Yoshinator for encouraging me!


	3. Dalek: The Dalek Questions

A/N: So it's been about a month since I wrote anything, and I'm so sorry. I just didn't have any urge to write this during that time. I finally wandered back onto yesterday and saw that people had been reading it and someone (*cough*theYoshinator*cough*) had reviewed it. This, coupled with my boredom and need to do something productive, led me to (finally) write another chapter!

Again, I apologize greatly for not writing.

* * *

Rose and Adam continued their frenzied run up the stairs. The Dalek was ascending behind them, its eyestalk tracking their progress.

"Done it… we've got power to the bulkheads," announced Van Statten.

"The Dalek's right behind them," the Listener warned, peering over the Doctor's shoulder, one of her hands on his shoulder.

"We're nearly there! Give us two seconds!" Rose pleaded desperately.

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power." Van Statten shook his head slightly. "The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads."

Everyone's eyes turned to the Doctor, who seemed to be frozen. The Listener removed her hand from his shoulder and put it on his hand. Although he didn't look at her, he took it. "I'm sorry," he told Rose, and pressed enter, making alarms ring below and the great barriers to begin their descent.

"Come on!" Adam's shout could be heard faintly over the comm.

The Doctor's eyes were fixed on the moving white dot that represented Rose.

"The vault is sealed," confirmed Van Statten. According to the display, Rose was still with the Dalek.

"She didn't make it." The Listener closed her eyes, blocking out the display with Rose's white light trapped behind the door.

"Rose, where are you?" the Doctor demanded, standing, not believing this. "Rose, did you make it?"

Rose took several deep breaths, sounding like she was trying not to cry. "Sorry, I was a bit slow," she said quietly. The Doctor froze in the pause before she continued, "Sealed in, Doctor." She sniffled. "It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Following this reassurance, a single word was heard in the background, followed by the sound of pulsing energy. "Exterminate!"

Van Statten and Goddard grimaced in grief.

"I killed her," the Doctor whispered in a voice filled with horror, grief, and guilt.

"That's not true." The Listener squeezed his hand slightly. The Doctor turned to her, for once seeking a tiny bit of comfort, rather than giving it out.

"I'm sorry," offered Van Statten, instantly breaking the moment of calm after the storm.

"I said I'd protect her," the Doctor turned sharply to Van Statten, his voice rising. "She was only here because of me, and you're _sorry?_ I could have killed that Dalek in its cell," he continued, moving threateningly towards him, not letting go of the Listener's hand. "But you stopped me."

"It was the prize of my collection! It didn't look like a human, but something that could actually have come from outer space!" Van Statten tried to defend himself.

"Your collection!? The Doctor yelled furiously, his grip on the Listener's hand tightening as more of his fury showed. "Well was it worth it… worth all those men's deaths, worth Rose?!" Van Statten stared at the Doctor, for once at a loss for words. "Well let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater."

"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!" he interjected, also standing.

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, under tons of sand and dirt, and label them! You're about as far from the stars as you can get." His suddenly changed, becoming more quiet and reflective. "And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old."

Rose cautiously turned toward the Dalek after it had failed to kill her. "Go on, then, kill me," she told it. It didn't move. "Why are you doing this?!" she demanded.

"I am armed. I will kill," the Dalek warned her. "It is my purpose."

"They're all dead because of you!"

"They are dead because of us!"

Rose paused, taken aback by this statement. "And now what? What are you waiting for?" she asked it.

"I feel your fear," the Dalek said slowly.

"What do you expect?"

"Daleks do not fear, must not fear." The Dalek's voice began to sound rather… desperate. It shot at the wall, but missed Rose by several feet both times. "You gave me life. What else have you given me? "

Rose shivered on the wall, staring at the Dalek's outburst.

"I am contaminated!"

"You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind!" The Doctor rounded on Adam the moment he stepped out of the lift.

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" he shouted into the Doctor's face.

The Listener moved away from the two men and towards the screen. "Doctor," she began, pointing at it.

"Open the bulkhead…" the Dalek was on the screen, with Rose standing next to it. "Or Rose Tyler dies."

The Doctor gasped in amazement as he moved towards the screen, eyes on the very alive Rose. "You're alive."

"Can't get rid of me," Rose joked feebly.

"I thought you were dead."

"Open the bulkhead!" The Dalek interrupted the reunion.

"Don't do it!" protested Rose.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"

The Doctor was dazed by this unexpected jibe by the Dalek. Why did it try to speak of love as though it understood it? But he didn't love Rose like that. As a companion, friend, even a sister, yes, but that was all. It just showed that the Dalek was trying to trick him…

"It killed her once…" He told Van Statten. "It won't do it again, no matter what she says." He pressed enter once more, raising the bulkheads to allow passage for the two below.

"You did the right thing. That's what she really wanted," the Listener reassured the Doctor quietly.

"What do we do now?" demanded Van Statten. "You bleeding heart, what the hell do we do?!"

"Kill it when it gets here," Adam suggested. His voice, though still anxious, was much more reassuring than Van Statten's panicked shout.

"All the guns are useless," Goddard protested. "And the alien weapons are in the vault."

"Only the catalogued ones," countered Adam.

"Broken." The Doctor went through a wire basket of alien weapons, most of which had been deemed unusable by him. "Broken. Hairdryer."

"Mr. Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff," Adam explained his hoarding. "And when he does, he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day."

The Listener, who was peering at the various pieces of junk on the shelves in the hope of finding something vaguely useful, laughed a bit at that.

"What… you in a fight? I'd like to see that," the Doctor scoffed.

"I could do," Adam protested.

"What are you going to do… through your a-levels at them?" Before Adam could respond to this snarky little comment, the Doctor had picked up a huge gun. "Oh, yes. Lock and load."

22… 21… 20…

Rose and the Dalek stood in the elevator as it slowly ascended. Rose watched the Dalek nervously out of the corner of her eye. "I'm begging you, don't kill them," she pleaded. "You didn't kill me."

"But why not?" the Dalek turned to look at her. "Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?!"

3… 2… 1…

The elevator doors opened, revealing the room where Van Statten and Goddard remained.

"Don't move! Don't do anything!" Rose warned them. "It's beginning to question itself."

"Van Statten…" the Dalek glided to its former torturer. "You tortured me. Why?"

Van Statten looked terrified. "I wanted to help you. I just… I don't know," he stammered. "I-I was trying to help." He backed up as the Dalek continued to come towards him. "I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you… I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!"

"Then hear me talk now." The Dalek stopped its slow chase of Van Statten. "Exterminate. Exterminate!" Van Statten cringed at his impeding death. "Exterminate!"

"Don't do it! Don't kill him!" Rose begged the Dalek. "You don't have to do this anymore." She spoke into the eyestalk, which had swiveled to face her. "There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?"

The Dalek looked at Van Statten, then back at Rose. "I want… freedom."

Rose and the Dalek moved across the floor of level one. The Dalek stopped, and Rose followed suit. It unexpectedly shot a pulse of energy at the ceiling, making Rose duck away from it, but it only created a small hole to reveal the blue sky beyond.

"You're out. You made it." Rose smiled. "I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again."

"How does it feel?" the Dalek asked. Whirring noises emanated from it, and Rose moved away, watching the process unfolding. Four pieces of the Dalek's armour unfolded, revealing the creature within. It looked like a pale squid-like creature, it's brain exposed and one orange eye peering up at her. A single tentacle reached towards the sunlight…

"Get out of the way!" the Doctor's voice made her jump. She turned to see him pointing an enormous gun at the Dalek behind her. Coming out of the door behind him was a gaunt woman who was staring at the Dalek with disbelief etched across her face. "Rose, get out of the way now!"

"No, 'cause I won't let you do this." She shook her head.

"That thing killed hundreds of people."

Neither one of them noticed the Listener slowly moving towards the Dalek, a curious expression on her face.

"It's not the one pointing a gun at me."

"I've got to do this. I've got to end it," the Doctor said desperately. "The Daleks destroyed my home, my people."

"But look at it," Rose gestured to the Dalek, which was reaching its tentacles up.

"What's it doing?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"It's the sunlight… that's all it wants," the Listener stood beside Rose, watching the Dalek reach for the sun.

"But it can't," the Doctor said in disbelief.

"It couldn't kill Van Statten. It couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?" Rose asked the Doctor.

The Doctor let his weapon fall. "I couldn't… I wasn't…" He looked at the Dalek, then back at Rose. "Oh, Rose. I thought they were all dead."

"Why do we survive?" the Dalek questioned.

"I don't know."

"I am the last… of the Daleks."

"You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you, " the Doctor realized. "You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutated."

"Into what?" the Dalek asked.

"Something new. I'm sorry."

"Isn't that better?" asked Rose.

"Not for a Dalek."

"I can… feel so many ideas… so much darkness. Rose… give me orders. Order me to die." The Dalek's eye closed.

"I can't do that."

"This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction!" Rose didn't say anything. "Obey! Obey! Obey!"

"Do it."

"Are you frightened…" the Dalek asked. "Rose Tyler?"

Rose took a shuddering breath. "Yeah."

"So am I." The Dalek admitted. "Exterminate."

Rose and the Listener quickly went back to the Doctor as the Dalek began to close itself. It elevated and the little metal balls on its sides formed a sphere around it. Electricity crackled between them… and the Dalek was gone.

Goddard stalked towards Van Statten. She paused in front of him, then nodded at the guards behind him, who began to drag him away.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he asked angrily.

"Two hundred personnel dead, and all because of you, _sir_. Take him away, wipe his memory, and leave him by the road someplace," she ordered the guards.

"You can't do this to me!" Van Statten yelled. "I am Henry Van Statten!"

"And by tonight, Henry Van Statten will be a homeless, brainless junkie living on the streets of San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento… someplace beginning with 'S'." She smiled coldly.

Rose, the Doctor, and the Listener had returned to the exhibit room where this adventure had started. The other two watched as the Listener stroked the side of the TARDIS, a small, contented smile on her face.

"Little piece of home, better than nothing," the Doctor told her.

"Do you often understate things?" the Listener asked him.

He grinned. "All right, maybe a lot better than nothing."

The two were silent, both perfectly understanding the significance of this unassuming blue box.

Rose cleared her throat. "Um… mind introducing me?" she asked the Doctor.

"Oh, yes! I'd forgotten," he clapped his hands, suddenly animated. "Rose, Listener, Listener, Rose."

"Human?" the Listener asked for confirmation.

"Have you got a problem with that?" Rose said, eyeing her new travelling companion.

"Do the Judoon have a problem with law?" she answered, smiling.

"She means no," the Doctor clarified for Rose, chuckling slightly at her confusion.

"Uh-huh…" Rose said, not quite sure what was being said.

"We'd better get out." Adam jogged up behind Rose. "Van Statten's disappeared, they're closing down the base. Goddard says they're gonna fill it full of cement, like it never existed."

"About time," said Rose.

"I'll have to get back home," Adam told them.

"Better hurry up, then… next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1500 hours."

"Adam was saying that, all his life," Rose hinted. "He wanted to see the stars."

"Tell him to go and stand outside then."

"He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help."

"He left you down there."

"So did you."

"What are you talking about? We've got to leave!"

"Rose, he's a bit pretty."

"I hadn't noticed."

"C'mon, Doctor, give the boy a chance," put in the Listener, winking at Rose.

"On your own heads." The Doctor turned to open the doors to the TARDIS.

"What… what are you doing? She said _cement_. She wasn't joking, we're gonna get sealed in." The other three entered the TARDIS. "Doctor? What are you doing, standing inside a box? Rose?" He entered slowly as the engine began whooshing.

As Rose explained exactly how the box was bigger on the inside, the Doctor looked over at the Listener, who was leaning against the wall, looking around at the interior with a blissful expression. He didn't say anything to her. He just smiled at the look on her face.


	4. The Long Game: The Year 200,000

In the empty corner of a cluttered room, the TARDIS appeared. Rose and the Doctor stepped out immediately, leaving Adam and the Listener behind them.

"So it's 200,000, it's a spaceship…" the Doctor began to tell Rose in a rush. "No, wait a minute, space station… go try that gate over there. Off you go." He leaned casually against the TARDIS.

"200,000?" confirmed Rose as the Listener stepped out behind her.

"200,000."

"Right."

"Adam? Out you come." Rose opened the door for Adam.

"Oh my god." He said, staring, openmouthed, at the alien landscape.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

"Where are we?"

"Good question. Let's see. So, um… judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000."

"Uh-huh." Adam nodded slowly.

"If you listen…"

"Right. Yeah."

"Engines… we're on some sort of space station. Yeah, definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here… they could turn the heating down. Tell you what… let's try that gate, come on." She headed off, leaving Adam to blink in amazement for a few seconds before following her.

The Doctor and the Listener waited a few moments before following. The Listener certainly looked better since she had been rescued; copious use of Rose's concealer coupled with some actual sleep had reduced the black bags beneath her eyes, she had put her hair into a loose braid to hide its lackluster, and finally eating regularly was bringing the fullness back into her cheeks. Loose yoga pants and a t-shirt, chosen by Rose, hid the rest of the sharp angles.

"That was sweet of you," she told him.

"Me? Sweet? What did I do?" he laughed innocently.

She chuckled along with them as they caught up to the other two.

Rose opened the metal mesh gate and climbed up a few steep stairs. "Here we go," she announced. They were in an unassuming room with what appeared to be rust on the walls and not much furniture. The amazing part of it was the window that covered one wall, revealing a planet stretching out beneath them. "And this is… I'll let the Doctor describe it."

"And I'll let the Listener describe it," the Doctor said, actually testing her knowledge.

She smiled at him before explaining, "The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is, planet Earth, at its peak. Covered with megacities, five moons… population ninety-six billion. The center of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species… with mankind right in the heart."

"Perfect," he commented.

Adam, who had been taking deep breaths for this speech, finally fainted behind them.

"He's your boyfriend," the Doctor told Rose.

"Not any more."

* * *

"Come on, Adam. Open your mind," the Listener urged Adam as they walked through the space station.

"Yeah, you're gonna like this fantastic period of history," the Doctor said. "The human race at its most intelligent… culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners… "

He was interrupted by a coarse shout of "Out of the way!" The area around them came alive with buyers, sellers, stands popping out of the wall, and the general hubbub of a crowded marketplace.

"Fine cuisine?" Rose asked the Doctor in disbelief, after looking at the greasy food on display.

The Doctor seemed to be confused. "My watch must be wrong." He checked it. "No, it's fine. That's weird."

"That's what comes of showing off," Rose said sagely. "Your history's not as good as you thought it was."

"My history's perfect."

"Well, obviously not."

"They're all humans, what about the millions of planets," Adam observed. "The millions of species, where are they?"

"Good question," the Listener told him, the tiniest bit patronizingly.

"Actually, that _is_ a good question," the Doctor mused. "Adam, me old mate, you must be starving." The Doctor put an arm around his shoulders.

"No, I'm just a bit time sick," disagreed Adam.

"Nah, you just need a bit of grub. Oi, mate… how much is a cronk burger?" he turned to the nearest vendor.

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now join the queue," he pointed from the two of them to the end of the line.

"Money… we need money," the Doctor told Adam, leading him away. "Let's use a cashpoint," he continued, heading away from the people and reaching for something inside his jacket. He took out his sonic screwdriver and held it against a screen that looked much like the screen of an ATM machine.

"There you go, pocket money." He gave the metal rod that had come from the machine to Adam. "Don't spend it all on sweets."

"How does it work?" Adam asked, turning it over in his hands.

"Go and find out. Stop nagging me," the Doctor said in exasperation. "The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook. You've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double, and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go on, do it." He shooed them away. "Off you go, then. Your first date."

"You're gonna get a smack, you are," Rose warned him.

The Doctor smiled at her, but as she left it slowly faded.

"Doctor?"

He looked around at the Listener, who was looking at him with some concern. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry if you don't like having Adam along. I guess it was a bit forward of me to help convince you to bring him."

"No, it's all right. Now come on, let's go find out why this," he waved to their surroundings. "Is like this."

They went over to two hurried-looking women. "Uh, this is gonna sound absurd, but can you tell us where we are?" the Listener asked.

"Floor 139," the black woman answered. "Could they write it any bigger?"

"Floor 139 of what?" the Doctor pressed.

"Must have been a hell of a party," she answered snarkily.

"You're on satellite five," her lovely friend told him.

"What's satellite five?" the Listener asked.

"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" the dark woman asked.

"Look at us. We're stupid," the Doctor said, deadpan.

"Hang on, wait a minute… are you a test?" the nicer lady asked anxiously. "Some sort of management test thing?"

"You've got me. Well done," the Doctor lied. "You're too clever for me." He showed them a piece of psychic paper.

"We were warned about this in basic training," she said nervously to her friend. "All workers have to be versed in company promotion."

"Right. Fire away, ask your questions," the black lady told the Doctor, suddenly polite. "If it gets me to floor five hundred, I'll do anything."

"Why? What happens on floor five hundred?" the Listener questioned.

"The walls are made of gold. And you should know, Ms. Management."

"First day on the job. Can't blame me if I don't know everything."

So, this is what we do…" she began to walk away. The Doctor, the Listener, and the kinder friend followed her. "Latest news… sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. 200 dead. Glasgow water riots in their third day. Spacelane 77 closed by sunspot activity." A video clip accompanied each of these bits of information from screens on the wall. "And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant."

"I get it… you broadcast the news," the Doctor realized.

"We are the news. We're the journalists. We write it, package it, and sell it. Six hundred channels. All coming out of satellite five, broadcasting everywhere."

* * *

"Something is wrong." A pale man stood in a darkened room, watching this exchange going on through a security camera. "Something fictional." He leaned down next to a man covered in ice. "Those people."

"Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going through us." A black woman was explaining to two other people.

"Security check. Go deep," the man told the frozen person.

* * *

"All staff are reminded that the canteen area is now operating self-cleaning tables," a woman's voice came on the loudspeakers. "Thank you."

"Try this. It's called zaphic." Rose handed a drink to Adam. "It's nice, it's like a, um, slush puppy."

"What flavor?" Adam asked.

Rose took a sip. "Sort of beef?" she guessed.

"Oh my god," Adam said in disgust. Rose laughed at his response. "It's like everything's gone," Adam said. "Home, family… everything."

"This helps," Rose said, pulling out her mobile. "The Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home, your mum and dad?"

"Yeah."

"Phone 'em up."

"But that's 198,000 years ago," Adam pointed out.

"Honestly, try it. Go on." She handed him the phone.

"Is there a code for planet Earth?"

"Just dial."

Adam obliged, although he still looked very skeptical.

"I'm sorry we're not in," a chipper female voice came through the phone.

"It's on hook," Adam told Rose in amazement.

"Please leave a message. Thanks, bye." The answering machine beeped.

"Hi. It's me. I've sort of gone… traveling. I met these people, and we're traveling together. But I'm fine, and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye." He hung up. "That is just…" he began, before a loud noise rang through the room. Everyone around them stood up and began to leave in a hurry.

"Oi, Mutt and Jeff!" the Doctor called them over. "Over here."

Rose came over at once, but Adam lingered for a few moments. The Listener frowned slightly at him, her brow furrowed.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"Oh, nothing," she answered airily, but she continued to watch him quizzically.

* * *

"Security check cleared."

The pale man watched continued to watch the little group over the shoulders of his frozen companions. "No, something's wrong. I can taste it. Tiny little shift in the information. Someone down there shouldn't be here. Double-check," he instructed the motionless man to his right. "Triple-check," he ordered the icy woman on his other side. "Follow them."

* * *

"Now, everybody behave," the black woman told to the circle of people, including the pretty lady from earlier. "We have a management inspection. How do you want it… by the book?" she asked the Doctor, who was standing with Rose, Adam, and the Listener.

"Oh, right from scratch, thanks," he answered.

"Okay, so, ladies, gentlemen," she turned back to the workers. "Multi-sex, undecided, or robot… My name is Cathica Santini Khadeni. That's Cathica with a 'C,'" she added to the Doctor. "In case you want to write to floor five hundred praising me, and please do. Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of newsgathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias. That's company policy."

"Actually, um, it's the law," Cathica's companion corrected.

"Yes, thank you, Suki," Cathica said coldly. "Okay, keep it calm," she continued to the room. "Don't show off for the guests… here we go." She sat in a large black chair, rather like a dentist's chair, in the middle of the circle. "And… engage safety." There was an electronic noise as each person around the room held their hands above a mould that would fit them perfectly. Bright lights flashed around the room. Cathica snapped her fingers, and a hole in the middle of her forehead opened, revealing her brain. Around the room, hands were placed on their corresponding moulds. "And 3, 2… and spike." A stream of glowing white light flowed from the machine above her and into her exposed brain.

The Listener standing behind the others, closed her eyes and put a hand to her head, rubbing her temples.

"Compressed information streaming into her," the Doctor explained. "Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software… her brain _is _the computer."

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius," Rose commented.

"Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much. Her head would blow up. The brain's the processor. Soon as it closes, she forgets."

He and Rose walked around the people. "So, what about all these people 'round the edge?" Rose asked, pointing to them.

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her, and they transmit six hundred channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place. Now, that's what I call power," he finished, leaning against the railing, staring at the data stream. He glanced behind him, spotting the Listener. "You all right?" he asked her with some concern.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Just have a headache," she answered casually.

* * *

"Analysis confirmed. Security breach."

The room that was currently being used for data processing showed on the screen.

"I knew it. Which one?" the pale man asked, leaning towards it. "It's someone inside that room…" he continued, pointing at it. "Which one?"

"Isolating breach," the computer announced.

"Come on, show me," he said impatiently. "Who is it?"

"You all right?" a blonde woman asked.

"I can see her brain," the man next to her answered.

* * *

"Do you want to get out?" Rose asked Adam.

"No, no, this technology, it's… it's amazing," he answered, peering at the data transfer.

"This technology's wrong," the Doctor stated.

"Trouble?" Rose asked.

"Oh, yeah." He grinned.

A pulsing sound went through the room, and Suki flinched.

* * *

"That's it. Oh ho ho, yes!" The pale man pointed his finger at Suki on the screen, laughing. "She's the liar. Intercept and scan," he said darkly. "Gotcha."

* * *

The lights on the walls suddenly blinked out. Around the circle, each journalist removed their hands from the moulds as though they had been burned.

"Come off it, Suki, I wasn't even halfway," Cathica scowled. "What was that for?"

"Sorry. Must've been a glitch," Suki muttered apologetically.

* * *

"Her information's been tampered with." The pale man was inches away from the screen as he examined it. "There's a second biography hidden underneath."

A loud snarling came from above, and he straightened up at once. "Yes, sir." More growling. "Absolutely, sir. Yeah, well, her data was encrypted," he explained in response to more angry noises, "So there's no way we could have found her sooner." A loud snarl was the response. "Yeah, sorry, I… yeah, sorry, sir. Absolutely." He gave a thumbs up. Furious growling continued.

"Get her up here. Now," he hurriedly ordered a woman.

* * *

"Promotion."

Everyone's eyes were drawn to a large blue screen with the word 'Promotion' on it.

"Come on. This is it. Come on," Cathica said desperately. "Oh, my god, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name. Say my name."

"Promotion for… Suki Macrae Cantrell." Suki's mouth fell open. "Please proceed to floor five hundred."

"I don't believe it," Suki whispered, eyes wide. "Floor five hundred." She stood, moving towards the screen displaying her name.

"How the hell did you manage that?" demanded Cathica. "I'm above you."

"I don't know. I just applied on the off-chance. And they've said yes." She smiled widely.

"That's so not fair. I've been applying to floor five hundred for three years."

"What's floor five hundred?" Rose asked.

"The walls are made of gold," the Listener answered darkly.

* * *

"Cathica, I'm gonna miss you." Suki was saying her goodbyes in front of the lift. "Floor five hundred… thank you," she said to the Doctor and Listener.

"We didn't do anything," the Listener said.

"Well, you're my lucky charm," she smiled.

"All right. I'll hug anyone," the Doctor said, hugging her as she laughed happily. When they let go, the Listener gave her a short squeeze and stepped away quickly.

"Come on, it's not that bad," Rose told a depressed-looking Adam.

"What, with the… with the head thing?" he gestured to Cathica.

"Yeah, well, she's closed it now."

"Yeah, but it… it's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to… if I could just…" he struggled for words. "Cool down, sort of acclimatize."

"How do you mean?"

"Maybe I could just go and sit on the observation deck," he suggested. "Would that be all right? Soak it in, you know, pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200,000."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, no, you stick with the Doctor. You'd rather be with him. It's gonna take a lot better man than me to get between you two," he smiled sadly. "Anyway, I'll be on the deck." He stood to leave.

"Here you go. Take the TARDIS key," Rose gave him the key. "You know, just in case it gets a bit too much."

"Yeah, like it's not weird in there." He walked quickly away.

The Listener glanced behind her and watched him leave.

"Oh my god, I've got to go, I can't keep them waiting," Suki said. "I'm sorry!" she called back to them as she dashed into the lift. It beeped as the doors opened and she went inside. "Say goodbye to Steve for me," she said as an afterthought. "Bye!"

"Good riddance," Cathica said quietly to herself.

"You're talking like you'll never see her again..." the Doctor commented. "She's only going upstairs."

"We won't. Once you go to floor five hundred, you never come back."

**A/N: This will probably be my last chapter for about three weeks. Going to Canada!**

**Please read and review while I'm gone :)**


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